Pastor
Steve Geiger Pentecost
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Acts 2:1-21
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all
together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind
came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw
what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of
them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in
other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound,
a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in
his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are
speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own
native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia,
Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the
parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to
Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our
own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this
mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said,
“They have had too much wine.”
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised
his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in
Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These
men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this
is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ”‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day
of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
We’re in the Last Page of
God’s Picture Book Acts
2:1-21
1.
He saw words of Good News
2.
He saw the end
Some
time ago I was looking through the picture books of my family, witnessing as
the pages turned the passage of time. I
saw my Grandpa and Grandma, standing and smiling, now dead. I saw myself when seven years old, standing
with my younger brother looking through the metal grates at the animals in the
zoo. I saw myself, about seven years
old, holding a northern I had caught in Lake Darling, up north in Minnesota.
You
begin to notice the passage of time.
There is something very sobering about photo albums. One begins to wonder how much longer. One begins to realize that none of us has
that much longer to live.
Some
of you might be thinking, “Well, maybe you can say that when you get to be my
age.” Actually, God wants us to
consider that each one of us may not have much longer to live.
The
Holy Spirit, in the account of Pentecost, wishes to turn upside down our
perspective on time. While we may think
the future to be endless and our time going on seemingly forever, God . . . did
you notice what God says?
We
have described for us an event that happened almost 2000 years ago. Jesus had spent three years with his
disciples. They fished together, ate
together, walked together. In a moment,
no more. Jesus, ascending into
heaven. His friends, left all alone. If
you’ve ever felt alone, you understand this emotion. The temptation not to want to do anything. The temptation to turn off one’s life. “Without Jesus, our loved one, there’s no
point.”
Jesus
wasn’t going to let that happen. These
were his men. They were the world’s
link to eternal life. Would Jesus abandon
them? Leave them alone? He promised to send them a Comforter, the
Holy Spirit. The Spirit would remind them of everything he had ever said to
them.
What
he said, because his promises were all they needed. They just needed to remember that though they couldn’t see him,
he was just as real as ever.
So
the Holy Spirit comes. They had waited,
and now what starts to happen? Did they
all suddenly get the ability to fly?
Did they suddenly get the ability to make themselves disappear? They all get the ability to talk!
God
had waited 750 years for this day, to send the Holy Spirit, and all he did was
give them the ability to talk?
750
years--that’s right. The prophet Joel,
he lived almost 750 years before this day.
God, speaking through Joel, told of a day when the Holy Spirit would
come in a special way, and the big thing that would happen? People would talk!
Not
fly. Not disappear. Talk.
Talk
about the great things of God. There
was something that had happened that was news unbelievable. Most amazing. Takes your breath away.
Changes your life forever. There
was something that had happened.
Perhaps
you’ve received a phone call—or maybe it was a face-to-face conversation—about
a new baby. The husband or the wife
calls you to tell you that they are going to have a baby. Great news!
You wouldn’t have known about it except that they told you. The news brings a huge smile to your face.
The
news announced on Pentecost was far more amazing.
People
from Africa and Rome and Iraq and Egypt and Crete and Saudi Arabia heard about
the great things of God. That God just
fifty days before, that Jesus had been crucified for my doubts and worries, my
anger and laziness.
To
not know that was to have none of the joy.
To know that . . . God had waited 750 years for this most glorious
moment.
Now,
listen carefully to the words of Joel: “In the last days I will pour out my
spirit.”
Notice
God’s perspective on time. God, in
eternity, stepped back and looked at a picture book. Except God’s picture book didn’t just have pictures from the
past. This book had the future. Whose pictures were on the first pages? Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel. Whose pictures were on the last? Peter, the apostles, tongues of fire.
God
wants you to see how he sees history.
We are living in the last days.
There isn’t much time left.
Why
do we so insist on living like life is going to go on forever? Why don’t we wake up every morning and say,
“I’m living in the last days?” How
would that change our perspective?
Some
time ago my aunt’s husband was deathly ill.
In some of our conversations, she talked about how this has completely
changed her perspective on life. She
said, “I don’t know anymore if I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life
playing golf.” She talked about
spending her own last days or years helping with missions, with God’s work.
Why
does it take such pain to bring such clarity?
You
know how it is--we live like we will always have another day. So we put things off. Tomorrow.
Tomorrow I’ll get my priorities straight. Tomorrow I’ll visit the one needing spiritual encouragement. Tomorrow I’ll pray. Tomorrow I’ll start talking seriously about
Jesus with my kids. Tomorrow I’ll make
a commitment to start coming to hear God’s word at church regularly. Tomorrow I’ll confess that sin I’ve been
hiding. Tomorrow I’ll think less about
money and more about eternal treasures.
Tomorrow I’ll trust God to work things out. Tomorrow I’ll run from temptation.
We
always think there’s going to be a tomorrow, so that we never do what’s
important today. Our own desires, those
we’ll do. God’s plans, those we’ll put
off.
So
whose perspective is right? Will there
always be a tomorrow? Or is God right,
and everyone of us is living in the last days?
To
put off what is important is to have the Last Day sneak up on us like a
thief. Should we be living in a way
that that day catches us by surprise, let us be prepared for the worst. Blood and fire and smoke. That says painful death. Slow burning agony. Destruction. The sun, like a flashlight, shut off. The moon, white . . . then blood red. Before the great and revealing day of the Lord. When our delays in doing the right thing
will be instantaneously exposed in the light of God’s presence.
What
have we done? The audience of Peter
felt stabbed in the heart. A knife,
finding its mark. All was lost. What can we do? We aren’t ready for that day.
Sudden
destruction. So deserved. Yet 750 years before the Holy Spirit came
and made people talk . . . 750 years before, as God saw these last pages of
history, and God knows the destruction that is coming on this world, there was
some amazing news. News we never would
have guessed. News we would have not
known had the Holy Spirit not chosen to announce it to the world. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
Jesus will be rescued from that disaster.
There
will be blood. There will be fire. There will be smoke. But the name of Jesus Christ, the name that
is above every name, he is our rescue.
For when the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was shed, God made
peace. The entire world, God declared
innocent. You were included.
Isn’t
that amazing news? Doesn’t that change
how you look at time?
The
time is short. The end that is coming is most joyous. The time that you have
before that moment is most precious.
Live
it with energy, like one running and approaching the end of a race. When you know the finish line is near, you
want to leave no energy unused. What a
waste to get to the finish with energy to run five more laps, when you could
have used that energy to reach the finish line with greater speed, greater
glory.
My
friends, the finish line might be . . . we’re in the last page of God’s picture
book. God wants us to live every day,
knowing full well it could be our last.
What
can you do in these last days? One most
important thing we all can do is share, just like the apostles did on
Pentecost, the great things of God with others.
Consider
how many opportunities may be before you.
I think back just to the last couple of weeks. I had the chance to knock on some doors in our community, with
the desire to share with people I might not otherwise meet the good news of our
Savior. The first door I knocked on a
few Wednesday’s ago had behind it a mother, her two children close by. When I asked if she’d have a moment to
answer a few survey questions, she shared that she wasn’t interested. Her son came forward. I asked him how old he was. He then began to talk, explaining how he was
very short for his age and that it sometimes was uncomfortable. I then explained that I had been very short
as a child too, and before you knew it the mother was talking about her church
connections, some bad experiences, and her interest in possibly coming to a
worship service.
The
same night I met a young man who had some very difficult experiences with
church but seemed willing to talk.
Within the last few weeks a prisoner we had never met asked Vicar about
Bible study. I received a phone call
from a facility of older residents asking if we might offer a Bible study. We have foreign neighbors who long to learn
English and who have been happy to study the Bible too.
Opportunities.
Are
there opportunities you are aware of?
We
don’t know how much time remains. What
we know is that we have great things of God to share. Will we say, “Tomorrow?”
With God’s help and filled with joy, let us say, “Today!” I cannot put off the most important
spiritual matters for tomorrow. I’m
living in the last days!
Amen.